on the Birds af San Domingo, 327 



proximate the feathers in the two lateral halves of the tail, 

 the outer ones moving upward, and the inner ones, which 

 are longer than the outer, coming together and forming a 

 vertical rudder, like that of a boat, by which the bird steers 

 to a nicety. 



This species puzzled me a good deal as regards its con- 

 nection with the nests of the Didus. Just by the house in 

 which I lived at Sanchez was a cluster of palms which 

 contained a colony of Palm-Sparrows, and at intervals during 

 the day, the whole time I was there, from January to April, 

 the fierce cries of the Sparrows were mingled with those of 

 the tinkling Chinchilling, sometimes apparently in mortal 

 combat. For some time I fancied they must be breeding in 

 the nests of the Sparrow^s, but the natives informed me 

 that they built nests of their own quite different from the 

 Sparrows^ later in the year. 



When I had watched them many times and had become 

 more acquainted with them, I found that they visited the 

 Sparrows' nests almost every morning and robbed them of 

 any eggs they could find. 



The stomach of a female (length lOf inches, stretch i4i) 

 which I shot at Sanchez on March 14 contained the remains 

 of large spiders. 



■^ 20. CORVUS LEUCOGNAPHALUS. 



(Cory, op. cit. p. 74.) 



Common in the morass on the Yuna river where there 

 are large trees. Their noise can be heard a long way off 

 when a number are collected together. The note in itself is 

 very peculiar, and appears to be compounded of a half 

 musical cackle and a whistling kind of laugh, but sometimes 

 it is harsh and discordant. It is one of the most strange 

 noises I have ever heard from any bird. I shot several, but 

 was unable to procure a specimen for skinning, for, like the 

 Parrots, they invariably settled on the top spike of the palms, 

 and when shot fell into the spreading leaves beneath. 



-f 21. Tyrannus dominicensis. Locally " Petigary.'' 

 (Cory, op. cit. p. 77.) 

 The memory of these birds is not pleasant. Their shrill 



